CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A judge sentenced the founder of Peregrine Financial Group Inc. to 50 years in prison Thursday, Jan. 31, for stealing $215 million from investors over 20 years in what a prosecutor called the biggest fraud in Iowa history.

The sentence means 64-year-old Russell Wasendorf Sr., once a prominent figure in financial circles, will likely die behind bars because he’ll have to serve at least 42 1/2 years. He appeared in fragile health in the courtroom, having lost weight and suffering from health problems that made him look like a shadow of the successful businessman he once appeared to be.

Acting U.S. Attorney Sean Berry said the sentence was the longest ever given to a white-collar criminal in the northern Iowa district and was fitting because his fraud was unparalleled in Iowa.

“This is a just sentence for a con man,” he said at a news conference.

U.S. District Judge Linda Reade gave Wasendorf the maximum prison sentence available for the fraud and embezzlement charges to which he pleaded guilty in September. She cited the “staggering losses” his theft caused to 13,000 commodities investors who lost money and hundreds of employees who lost jobs.

Wasendorf’s brokerage, nicknamed PFGBest, collapsed last summer after investigators found Wasendorf unconscious after having attempted suicide in his vehicle outside its headquarters in Cedar Falls. He left a suicide note in which he confessed to stealing customer funds and forging bank statements to fool his colleagues, auditors and regulators.

He attempted suicide after learning that regulators were insisting on electronic access to Peregrine’s bank accounts, which meant they would soon find that more than $215 million in customer funds was missing. Prosecutors said Wasendorf’s theft started after he founded Peregrine in the early 1990s, when he needed money to prop up the business after an investor pulled out.

Instead of having the courage to admit his company was a failure then, Reade said, Wasendorf continued to steal clients’ money and spent it on a lavish lifestyle to make himself look like “a big shot” in the community.

Reade said she hoped the sentence “sends a message that white-collar criminals may serve long prison sentences for stealing money from other people.”

She ordered Wasendorf to pay $215 million in restitution, but said it was “highly unlikely” the victims would ever be fully compensated.

Wasendorf’s attorney said he has a tumor on his pancreas that doctors are testing for cancer.

Wasendorf apologized before he was sentenced.

“I just want to say I’m very, very sorry for the financial and emotional damage I have caused to investors and employees of Peregrine Financial Group,” he said.

Wasendorf told Reade any sentence she imposed would be less severe than the punishment of being estranged from his son, Russ Wasendorf Jr., who was Peregrine’s president and has been described as stunned by the fraud. Prosecutors said they don’t anticipate bringing charges against anyone else.

“I’ve lost the love of my son, and I’ll never see my grandchildren again,” Wasendorf said, breaking up.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan read statements from victims who wrote about losing their life savings or money they set aside to care for a relative. Some never meant to do business with PFG, which bought their accounts while it fraudulently expanded, he said.

Wasendorf used their money to build a business empire that included a publishing company that churned out his books, a corporate jet, the nicest restaurant in Cedar Falls, a development company in Romania and a charity known for donations to universities and hospitals. His mansion included a $1 million swimming pool. He owned a Chicago condominium, among other real estate.

Wasendorf has said he managed to get away with the theft because he became adept at making “convincing forgeries” of bank statements using copiers, computers, printers and scanners. His company sent daily reports to regulators showing falsely inflated numbers in its accounts.

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